Kalshi Faces Wash-Trading Claims Over Crypto Perpetual Volume

TLDR

• Kalshi is facing allegations that some of its crypto trading volume may include wash trading.
• Trader Beni questioned roughly $538.6 million in ETH perpetual volume against about $3.1 million in open interest.
• Kalshi’s crypto lead denied the claims and said prediction-market data had been confused with perpetual-futures activity.
• Kalshi’s rebate program excludes suspected wash trades, self-matching and pre-arranged trades from receiving incentives.
• No CFTC enforcement action reviewed as of September 21 accused Kalshi of wash trading in its crypto perpetual markets.

Kalshi is facing fresh claims that some of its crypto trading volume may be inflated through wash trading, though no regulator has publicly accused the exchange of such conduct.

The allegations were raised by trader Beni in a September 20 thread on X.

This thread is 100% gonna blow up and I am gonna look like a salty c****again but @icobeast pissed me off so now it’s gonna get ugly

Kalshi fakes their crypto volume and I can prove it

NOTHING pisses me off more than watching a company treat its own customers like complete… https://t.co/1LWMVGVaeU

— Beni (@beniduboss) September 19, 2026

He pointed to roughly $538.6 million in 24-hour Ethereum perpetual volume compared with around $3.1 million in open interest.

That represents turnover of roughly 174 times open interest, according to his calculations.

Trader Questions Kalshi Crypto Volume

Beni argued that the amount of trading appeared unusually high compared with the positions actually open in the market.

He also cited a Kalshi leaderboard that he said showed the largest position at just $17,598 when he captured the data.

Those figures could not be independently reconstructed from Kalshi’s current public pages because market data changes continuously.

Beni also focused on Kalshi’s temporary fee rebate program for perpetual futures.

Under a September filing with the CFTC, eligible takers on crypto perpetuals can receive rebates that reduce fees to 0.003%.

Eligible makers can receive payments equal to 0.003%, according to the filing.

Beni argued that the structure could reduce the cost of matched trading.

However, Kalshi’s rules state that self-matching, wash trading, pre-arranged trades and other suspected abusive transactions are excluded from rebate eligibility.

The exchange also says its chief regulatory officer can remove participants from the program and begin disciplinary proceedings.

Kalshi Rejects Wash-Trading Claims

Kalshi crypto lead IcoBeast disputed the accusations and said different products were being mixed together.

He said some of the data being discussed related to prediction-market volume rather than perpetual futures.

Kalshi’s own documentation describes prediction-market volume as the number of contracts traded, while perpetual futures use margin, leverage and funding payments.

Beni also questioned whether Kalshi’s interface could make contract volume appear to represent dollar value.

The historical interface shown in his screenshots was not independently verified.

Kalshi’s Ethereum perpetual market has operated since June, following the launch of its regulated Bitcoin perpetual product.

The exchange has since expanded its offering to Bitcoin and 17 altcoin perpetual contracts.

CFTC guidance has previously warned exchanges that some incentive programs can increase the risk of wash trading if controls are weak.

The regulator has not accused Kalshi of violating those rules.

Kalshi says it monitors participants, excludes suspicious trades from rebates and uses Nasdaq Market Surveillance to identify potentially abusive activity.

No public CFTC enforcement action tied to the current Ethereum perpetual allegations had been identified as of September 21.